Think of Me
by Aki and Tenshi
Summary: NEW TITLE SAME STORY! Just know that I regret nothing and I will remember it all, even if it hurts. Rory remembers her time with Jess and wants him to know that she does. Litish. A one shot song fic based on Taylor Swift's Tim McGraw


"They're so amazing. I mean they've been above you your whole life but you never seem to stop and look at them."

"Hmmm..."

Rory rolled up on her elbow and looked at Jess incredulously. "Common on Jess, you lived in the city your whole life. You never really got to see this before and that is all you got to say."

Jess glanced at Rory's determinedly passionate face and smirked. "You know I'm not one for words," he replied, remaining lying on his back his arms tucked behind his head.

Rory stuck her tongue out playfully at him before lying down on the bridge again, resting her head on her boyfriend's chest. He wrapped a warm arm around her shoulders. She signed in pure bliss, returning her eyes to the sparkling heavens.

After a moment she felt his eyes on her. She turned her head towards his and said with disdain, "Are you going to appreciate the sky or not!"

Jess continued to stare before stating slowly, "The stars got nothing on your eyes."

"That's a lie," she muttered in reply after a moment, as she was silently thankful that the darkness hid her blush.

"Sorry that my stupid car cut out on me and we couldn't go to diner like we planned."

"It's okay."

"You sure? I know how you where looking forward to it. Plus, you didn't get to put your little black dress to work," commented Jess, eyeing Rory's clothes.

"This is better. Plus, I think the dress is working fine, you for one cannot take your eyes off of me."

Jess held back a laugh and smirked again. He pulled his girlfriend closer and kissed her lightly on the lips. "I guess this is better."

Rory woke suddenly in her bed and the first thing she realized was that she was four years and twenty-two point eight miles away from that placed she dreamed of.

_You said the way my blue eyes shined,  
Put those Georgia stars to shame that night  
I said: "That's a lie"  
Just a boy in a Chevy truck,  
That had a tendency of gettin' stuck,  
On backroads at night  
An' I was right there beside him all summer long  
An' then the time we woke up to find that summer'd gone _

Rory was in her car and started driving around, trying to clear her head. Aggravated by the annoying commercials on her favorite station she hit the search button which lead her unknowingly to a country station while in the middle of a song. Rory's hands tensed on a steering wheel as a memory came rushing back to her…

They were hanging out in Luke's apartment. They had already done some real _hanging out_ earlier and were just sitting around now, occasionally reading and talking about books on a lazy weekend afternoon as the music from a mix station that seemed to be the only one that Luke's ancient radio seemed to pick up played in the background.

A commercial ended and a new song began to play.

"Oh," exclaimed Rory, jumping halfway across the couch to turn up the volume. "I love this song!"

Jess listened to a few bars, "Isn't this…Tim McGraw?"

Rory stared him, straight in the eyes, "Yes, yes it is."

"You like Tim McGraw?" asked Jess, a smirk growing on his face.

"No… I just like this song."

"That Tim McGraw sings?"

"Hey, everyone is aloud to have that one song that they love even though it goes against every time they swore not to listen to country or emo. So don't you judge me, Mr. likes Avril's sk8er boi."

Jess's face visibly hardened. "First of all I said it wasn't that bad and secondly, you swore to tell no one."

"I know. Just puts things in perspective, doesn't it?"

Jess glared.

_But when you think: Tim McGraw,  
I hope you think my favorite song  
The one we danced to all night long:  
The moon like a spotlight on the lake  
When you think happiness,  
I hope you think: "That little black dress"  
Think of my head on your chest,  
An' my old faded blue jeans  
When you think Tim McGraw,  
I hope you think of me  
_

Rory found herself in Stars Hollow, parked in front of her childhood house. She got out of her car and had the sudden strange urge to go around to her bedroom and try to climb through the window. She resisted and settled for unlocking the back door and slipping into her bedroom quietly all the while thanking God that her mother wasn't home to question her on what she was doing. She kneeled down on the slightly dusty floor and pushed two stacks of books under her bed aside to revealed a large sized shoebox on top of a folded pair of old blue jeans.

She pulled it out and set it on her lap before opening the box that had not been opened in years. She rifled through the contents, a thin paper back, ticket stubs to a Distiller concert, a few photographs, a ripped page out of the Stars Hollow High year book, a broken necklaces, until she found it. It was a pure white envelope stuffed with a few sheets of notebook paper with the name Jess on the front in her handwriting along with an address and even a stamp. She never sent it.

Rory clutched it to her heart and bit the inside of her bottom lip, a nervous habit. She had recalled how hard it had been, getting over him… She had hid it well from everyone, even her mother, in a mask of European adventure and the anxiety of starting collage. But it had been there.

_September saw a month of tears,  
An' thankin' God that you weren't here,  
To see me like that  
But in a box beneath my bed,  
Is a letter that you never read,  
From three summers back  
It's hard not to find it all a little bitter sweet,  
An' lookin' back on all of that, it's nice to believe:  
_

Another Memory floated into Rory's head. One that happened only about a week after the last one…

Jess tapped on Rory's bedroom window. She pulled it open and raised an eyebrow. "Normal people knock on the front door."

"Yeah, well," said Jess in a sarcastic tone, "Thought this was more romantic. Has a sort of Romeo and Juliet feel to it."

"Does that mean we have to kill ourselves at the end of the date?" questioned Rory in mock seriousness.

"No. I just didn't want to meet your mom at the door. She hates me."

"She does not hate you," replied Rory. Jess quirked an eyebrow. Rory corrected herself, "And she's not home."

"Her car is in the driveway."  
"She walked to Luke's."

"Ahh… so shall we?"

"Sure, but I'm using the door."

"Conformist!" shouted Jess at her receding back before going around the house to meet her at the door.

"New jeans?" he asked sarcastically, looking at the frayed, worn-out pair she was wearing.

"I just dug them out of my closet. They were Mom's when she was a teenager."

"So does that make them retro or vintage?"

"Ha Ha," retorted Rory, climbing into Jess's now fixed car…hopefully.

"So, I listened to your song," said Jess conversationally once they were driving along the roads on the edge of town.

"Huh?" asked Rory, confused.

"Your Tim McGraw song. I was bored so I looked it up ion the internet. I just want to tell you it is sort of depressing and sappy."

"No. It's sweet and cute."

"A.K.A….sappy."

"Okay, ignoring you now," said Rory, flicking on the radio.

"Speak of the devil," muttered Jess darkly as a familiar song began to play.

"Pull over," commanded Rory. Jess looked at her strangely. "Just do it!"

Jess complied reluctantly. Rory tuned up the volume so loud that Jess flinched.

"Leave the car on," she demanded before jumping out of the car and running over to the driver's side and opening Jess's door. "Dance with me."

"What?!"

"Come on. It's not hard."

"I know how to dance, I just don't do it."

"It'll be fun!"

"I highly doubt that."

"Hey, if you dance with me now, I swear to tell no one about the Avril Lavigne thing."

"You already swore not to tell."

Rory, procuring her cell phone from her pocket, said, "I can call my mom right now and trust me, you will never hear the end of it."

Jess growled but got out of the car. Rory wrapped her arms about his neck and Jess place his hands on her hips.

"See, it's nice." Jess didn't reply. "This could be our song."

"Okay, the sappy Tim McGraw song is not becoming _our_ song."

"What do got against Tim? Or do just want our song to be 'Complicated.'"

"I don't have to take this."

"Then stop talking," teased Rory, placing one of her pointer fingers on Jess's lips. "I want to hear the last verse."

Jess was silent for a moment before pilling Rory closer to him. He arched his head and began kissing her neck as he simultaneously slide on of his hands into the back pocket of Rory's jeans.

"See," mumbled Rory, "I told you you'd like it."

He smiled into her neck, "Nah, I just like the jeans."

_When you think: Tim McGraw,  
I hope you think my favorite song  
The one we danced to all night long:  
The moon like a spotlight on the lake  
When you think happiness,  
I hope you think: "That little black dress"  
Think of my head on your chest,  
An' my old faded blue jeans  
When you think Tim McGraw,  
I hope you think of me  
_

It was almost like an illusion to Rory, coming here, yet here she was at a few hours away drive, in Philly, standing in front of his bookshop. She flirted with the idea of going in there, talking to him and giving him the letter himself, but that would be totally inappropriate. She gave up that right of trying to be friendly the last time she came here. With the fiasco that happened which was her fault.

She wasn't even sure what she was doing now was right or wrong, but here she was. She had no clue what this would do to Jess, but she know it would be better for her if she let him know. It might be selfish, but their was probably nothing worse she could do at the moment.

She slipped the letter into the business mailbox nailed to the outside of the brick wall, trusting that he would get it then. She stared up at the sign, almost hoping Jess would come outside because he saw her, but she had no such luck. She returned to her car and left.

_  
And I'm back for the first time since then:  
I'm standin' on your street,  
An' there's a letter left on your doorstep,  
An' the first thing that you'll read:  
_

"Hey," Jess greeted Matt from behind the counter as Jess came down to the show room of Truncheon Books from the upstairs apartment.

"Hey," Matt replied, "You got some mail."

"Real mail?" questioned Jess taking an envelope from Matt's outstretched hand for her rarely got any mail that was neither advertisements nor bills. He recognized the handwriting instantly. He wasn't sure if he wanted to open it or not. Make himself susceptible to another can of worms concerning Rory. However, the envelope looked surprisingly old, their was no postmark, and it had his Venice Beach address printed on the outside. Letting curiosity get the best of him he went over to an empty chair behind a few book shelves and opened it.

It read: "Dear Jess, I cannot believe I am writing this letter. I thought I would have nothing to say to you, but I guess I was wrong, because the fact is I have a million things to say. I went to Europe and it was great. It was my first step in seeing the world, which you know, is what I want to do probably more than anything else. And while I was there, having the time of my life with my mom, I got to forget, to delay thinking about you for a bit.

I cannot pretend I am not angry, but I sort of miss you to. You were special to me, Jess. We had so many stupid little inside jokes and secrets. I got to talk to you about stuff I could not talk to anyone else about, like books that no one else had read. It was one of the best times in my life.

I loved you. I know I told you during that telephone call, if that actually was you, that I might have, but the more that I got to think about it the more I know I did. I might still, but all I can hope is that it passes eventually because you are gone.

Just know that I regret nothing and I will remember it all, even your thing for Avril and our special song. So all I want you to do…

_Is: "When you think: Tim McGraw,  
"I hope you think my favorite song"  
Some day you'll turn your radio on,  
I hope it takes you back to that place  
When you think happiness,  
I hope you think: "That little black dress"  
Think of my head on your chest,  
An' my old faded blue jeans  
When you think Tim McGraw,  
I hope you think of me  
Oh, think of me,  
Mmmm  
think of me…_

Rory was driving home hoping that Jess got the letter and he didn't throw it away the moment he saw it.

Her cell phone rang and she dug it out of her purse, with one eye still on the road. Without checking the caller ID she flicked it open and held it to her ear. "Hello?"

"Thanks," whispered someone on the other line, "Now turn on your radio to channel 108.2." And then he hung up.

Rory complied to hear the end of a Hinder song before the disc jockey announced, "This song has been dedicated to Rory from Jess. He wants you to know that he remembers too."

Rory wanted to cry as the song began to play. "Just to see you smile, I'd do anything that you wanted me to. When all is said and done, I haven't count the cost. It's worth all that's lost. Just to see you smile…"

_  
You said the way my blue eyes shined,  
Put those Georgia stars to shame that night  
I said: "That's a lie"_

And unknowingly, for just a brief moment, the two broken hearted lovers shared a single thought, a single wish, that even though it might sometime hurt, they didn't want to forget…

* * *

Okay, I like country music, and Avril, And Tim, and even some emo, but they seemed like the sort of music that Jess and Rory would make fun of so whatever. The Tim McGraw song I was referring to and a few of the lyrics were in the test is called, "Just to see you smile." The main song is by Taylor Swift and is entitled, "Tim McGraw."

Hope you liked. I also hope to update "Moving on Ain't so easy" in the next few days. I have about half a chapter done.


End file.
